Harold Pinter’s THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
I was excited about my third birthday!
Blog 28
January 23
“Well - it’s very, very nice to be here tonight, in my house, and I want to propose a toast to Stanley, because it’s his birthday, and he’s lived here for a long while now, and he’s my Stanley now…”
Meg's toast from Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party
Are you a birthday lover or hater? Do you excitedly focus on coming together with friends and family for a fun celebration on the day you were born? Or had you rather not even mention the day that makes you recall your mom putting you in the center of attention playing that stupid pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game?
I have never worked on — or even seen — The Birthday Party. The work is Harold Pinter’s first full-length play, originally produced at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge in 1958, directed by Pinter himself. Because audiences were bewildered by the style and intense conflicts by ambivalent characters, the play closed after a week. The Birthday Party has been categorized as neo noir, a captivating psychodrama, provocatively funny, Absurdist, Comedy of Menace, and more.
At the center of the action is Stanley Webber, a piano player who lives in a rundown boarding house in a coastal English village. Two mysterious strangers arrive on Stanley’s birthday. Meg rambles, revealing a deep devotion to Stanley. “Well — it’s very, very nice to be here tonight, in my house, and I want to propose a toast to Stanley, because it’s his birthday, and he’s lived here for a long while now, and he’s my Stanley now. And I think he’s a good boy, although sometimes he’s bad. And he’s the only Stanley I know, and I know him better than all the world, although he doesn’t think so. Well, I could cry because I’m so happy, having him here and not gone away, on his birthday, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him, and all you good people here tonight…”
Tomorrow is my birthday, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to spend it in a Pinteresque manner. So what does another birthday mean to you? According to a recent government survey of 1,000 Americans, some folks devote part of their own momentous day giving gratitude to the Divine for still being alive. They like to relish family time, and to receive cards or gifts. The survey found “Nineteen percent say they love their birthday, 24% say they like it, and 47% say they feel neutrally about it. Just 7%, say they dislike their birthday, and only 4% say they hate it.” When it comes to holidays many Americans admit their birthday outranks others.
My paternal grandmother never told anyone the year she was born, as she wanted to appear forever young. The other one was proud of the fact that she was born in the year 1900, and I followed suit, delighting the detail that my earthly entrance was exactly 50 years later. My mother loved any chance for an observance, so birthdays delighted her. Her favorite breakfast was party leftovers, especially cold casseroles. She made the honoree’s favorite meal (down to a homemade best-loved cake), picked out unique gifts, and generally made a once in a lifetime event of each party.
For me, birthdays mean more than cake (I’d rather have pie — and my mother obliged me starting in my 20s), ice cream, balloons, and presents. Food and drink and decorations can certainly add to an Anniversary of My Debut on Earth; but birthdays are more than these usual accoutrements for me. They are a time to look back on the past year and ahead to the new.
Birthdays are a milestone and a reckoning. Did I start a new adventure last year? Discover ne’er visited pubs or breweries? Uncover different talents? See enough theatre? Travel across my state? My country? The globe?
Am I okay with being in the limelight today? Or is my self-consciousness raising its silly head? Do I think I am overly special, or can I realize that everyone is unique and part of the Whole of the Universe? Birthdays offer the chance to reflect on who I am, where I’ve been, where I might be going.
So, tomorrow I will engage in a little rumination, contemplation, and celebration. I’m already booked early morning for my massage therapist, and will spend the evening at church, reveling in the installation of our new priest. In between I will read something fun, look back on birthdays from previous years in my journals, and indulge in something creative. And, since Roger’s birthday is February 5, we will just be starting to commemorate our Twelve Days of Birthdays, making merry from my day to his!